Metric Recipes and Recipe Conversion

The purpose of this site is to provide information about cooking with the
metric system, and to give clear instructions and tables to convert recipes
given in customary U.S. weights and measures to metric units.

This site does not explain how to convert metric recipes to U.S. measures.
Instead, I would recommend that any American trying to make a metric
recipe simply make it in the original metric quantities. If you want
to give it a try, then see the cooking
in metric section of this site.

Those outside the U.S. trying to cook an American recipe may wish to read
the conversion basics section of this
site to convert the American recipe into units that they understand
like grams and liters.

Anyone posting a recipe on the internet has good reasons to convert it
to metric. Internet readers are a global audience, and it is likely that
over half of all readers of your web site or posting are reading it from
outside the U.S. Measures like cups, pints, pounds, and tablespoons
have different sizes in different countries, so a recipe in customary
American units may not turn out right if cooked in the British Isles
(for example), and vice versa. Specifying your recipe in metric units
ensures that it can be properly interpreted everywhere. Writers of
cookbooks can also benefit from metricating their recipes, since books
are bought and sold on the global market.

It is important to keep in mind that
traditional measures like cups, pints, quarts, and gallons mean
different things in different countries! For example, if you try to
make a British recipe using American measuring cups, the recipe
probably won't turn out right.

It is also important to note that metric
recipes specify the quantity of many ingredients by weight instead of
volume, and that fractions are seldom used with the metric
system. For example, a metric recipe might call for 80 g of flour
(measured by weight, without fractions) where the equivalent traditional
recipe would call for 2/3 of a cup (measured by volume, with fractions.)